å±…èœœï¼šæ°‘åœ‹æ–‡åŒ–å‚³æ‰¿ Chu Mi: A Daughter of the Chinese Republican Era (The oral history of Chinese American women)

"Herstory: in her own words"
Oral History of Chinese American Women Series
Preface

Since 1960, many of Taiwan's elite college women graduates began a movement to study at leading American graduate schools.
They are called the Overachiever Generation.The situation changed drastically in 2000, when China emerged as a world economic power. American schools were no longer the only option, and most of Taiwan's youth choose to further their studies and work in China where language and culture are not a barrier.

In 2014, I met Dr. Chang Yu-Tung, Director of the National History Museum of Taiwan. Dr. Chang convinced me to curate an exhibition, "Herstoryâ€”the Legal History of Chinese American Women." It suddenly dawned on me that I should record the oral history of those groundbreaking Chinese American women whenever I had a chance to meet them for the exhibition.

When I was growing up in Taiwan, I did not see any women leaders in any profession. But the women I met for the exhibition were dierent. ey endured the most dicult challenges and they faced hostility and criticism. Eventually, they found creative ways to overcome barriers and made it to the top.

Now, in facing the sunset of their lives, how do they help their American born children understand their extraordinary achievements? How do they pass on their experiences and wisdom? Being a member of the Overachiever Generation myself, I passionately want to preserve its legacy and glorious history.

Today, the rst printed book of "e Guiding Lightâ€”Oral History of Chinese American Women Series" is published. It is entitled "Chu Mi: Daughter of the Chinese Republican Era." is book is only the rst of a series of biographies of outstanding Chinese American women.

I hope you will share our joy and help us introduce our series to your younger friends, hopefully to assist them in achieving their goals, remember the past, and to encourage other Chinese American women to be proud of what they have accomplished.

in 2001.Â Her name changed five times. The first was in 1937 when she left China. It was during the Chinese Exclusion era (1882-1943) when America banned Chinese from entering the country.Â One of the ways to circumvent the discriminatory laws was to assume the identity of a person in the exempt class.Â

Gum Toâ€™s mother found a family about to leave the war torn country and whose daughter had died.Â She persuaded them to take her daughter in their dead daughterâ€™s place. Louie Gum To became Kam Sau Quon, their daughter on paper.

In America, a teacher gave her the name Lettie Kam. When she married Thomas Wing Jue in 1945, her name changed to Lettie Jue.Â But Jue was Thomasâ€™ paper name and in 1952, he legally changed his name back to his real family surname, Lowe.Â Lettie was now Lettie Kam Lowe.Â After he passed away,Lettie married Abelardo Cooper and her name changed for the sixth time toLettie Lowe Cooper.

In 2015, her daughter Felicia Lowe made â€œChinese Couplets,â€ an acclaimed documentary about her motherâ€™s life; from â€œpaper daughterâ€ to successful entrepreneur, she personified the American Dream.

In 1924, a nine-year old Chinese-American named Martha Lum was prohibited from attending Rosedale Consolidated High School in Bolivar County, Mississippi solely because she was of Chinese descent. The Supreme Court held that Gong Lum had not shown that there were not segregated schools accessible for the education of Martha Lum in Mississippi; therefore, Martha Lum was not allowed to go to the school for white children.

The picture directly below shows the two Lum sisters in third or fourth grade in the first row among white students. It was likely that the Supreme Court decision was not known in other local schools, for Gong Lum moved the family to Elaine, Arkansas where his girls attended white public schools. Lum v. Rice, 275 U.S. 78 (1927) was effectively overruled by the Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which outlawed segregation in public schools.Â

The Anti-Miscegenation Act of 1889 prohibited Chinese men from marrying white women. The Cable Act of 1922 terminated citizenship of white American women who married Asian men. These laws were not fully overturned until the 1950s.